I've heard good things about Smokin Jacks in Reedsville (Preston County). They've recently opened up a location in Morgantown called Smokin Jills. The two restaurants essentially share a Facebook page and a menu - one just calls Preston County home, while the other is in Monongalia County.



Smokin Jills is located out past Sabraton area toward Dellslow in the former Longneck Saloon space. Inside, there are a few long rows of tables with bar stools and a couple high-top tables.



Lisa and I happened to go on a Monday, which is 50 cent boneless wings night. I went with 12 boneless wings - buffalo style deep fried wings. Six are honey BBQ and six are the house special spicy garlic ranch. With 12 wings, you get two dips, so I tried both their ranch and bleu cheese.



Honey BBQ is kind of hard to mess up, right? I liked my honey BBQ wings. Nothing really stood out to me about the sauce - just a little watered down, maybe. But still not bad. Better than many I've had.

The house special spicy garlic ranch wings were heavier on the ranch, less so on the garlic. But not a bad flavor, but not a very memorable one either.

My favorite part was asking how much the orange sherbert cake was, and because it was served as part of a dinner, they didn't sell it separately. So, they gave us a piece for free! It tasted just like an orange creamsicle.

Overall, the food really wasn't bad. Better than average bar food, I would say. I liked the honey BBQ, and the garlic ranch was decent, too.

Our service was a bit off, as we were kind of ignored. And a bunch of guys came in at one point and sat at the bar and talked to the waitress, while we again were ignored. And then when the card machine wasn't working, our server was visibly angry. I think it was just a new waitress who was young and inexperienced. But, meh, a little unwelcome feeling. Except for the cake. Cake is always welcoming.



Grade: C

Firefly Farms is a goat cheese producer located in Accident, Maryland, but I discovered them right here in Morgantown. They've been a mainstay at the Morgantown Farmers Market for some time, and I've had just about every cheese they consistently sell at this point.

In fact, I visited their main location last winter, and I've been waiting to try that last cheese (Bella Vita) to post this blog. But, I found out they won't be producing it for some time, and I just didn't want to wait any longer!



Their location in Maryland is great - you can get all their cheeses, plus a variety of other kinds of cheese and accompaniments. There are cheese slates and other hors d'oeuvres. While there, I actually got a hunk of the Cabra LaMancha (my favorite), some caviar (because fancy) and had a wine tasting.



So, let's talk cheese! I mentioned the Cabra LaMancha is my favorite. It's this semi-soft cheese that has a lighter aged flavor.

I also love the Mountain Top Bleu, which is a softer bleu cheese. It's not too harsh if you're not a huge fan of bleu cheese. But if you ARE a big fan of bleu cheese...

Then the Black & Blue is for you. It's a harder, more aged cheese (on the right).

The Merry Goat Round is a bit firmer and is similar to a brie cheese, but with that stronger goat cheese flavor.

Then there's the Allegheny Chevre, which is good for cooking, as it's very soft.



Buche Noire is similar, and is good for crackers or other snacks. It has an ash rind from being coated in vegetable ash.

I've also tried their Cabrita, which is a French-inspired crottin. This one was a bit too much for me, but I'm sure others like it.



Like I mentioned, I've never had the Bella Vita, but as soon as they start producing it again, I'll be first in line! [EDIT 5/15/16: FINALLY tried the Bella Vita - so good!!]

AND the newest addition, and the reason I decided to post this now, is they are now producing TWO COW CHEESES. COW CHEESES. I bought both.

The Moo & Blue is a bleu cow cheese, which is a perfect combination between soft and hard. I have eaten about the entire thing just from snacking. It's so hard not to! It's the delicious flavor Firefly Farms is known for but in the cow cheese form - which I honestly love more. It's just a little smoother, a little cleaner. Goat cheese definitely has it's place, but cow cheese is more palatable.

The Bloomy Breeze is a brie, and it's so delicious. I am so happy Firefly has ventured into the cow cheese territory. I hope they keep it up and do even more!

The Morgantown Farmers Market is BACK, and there are two new vendors this summer! First, High Country Creamery is a cow cheese vendor. They were around during the winter markets, and they're sticking around for the summer! I've sang the praises of their cheese curds - so good. They now have dill and pepperjack curds!



Next, Patty's Pastries has bread, donuts, bear claws, pepperoni rolls and pizza crusts! I had to snag a bear claw - ribbons of cinnamon throughout were so good.



Be sure to check out the markets! Saturdays at Morgantown Market Place at 415 Spruce Street from 8:30 a.m. to noon!

The former Archie's in Sabraton has become Sabraton Station, but it still features the same type of fare with sandwiches, wings and plated dinners in a bar & grill space.



The building is actually quite big with a wraparound bar, a dozen or so high-tops and a stage/booth area, plus a whole upstairs. It's a lot.

For my order, I went with a buffalo chicken wrap. Nothing too crazy, but I was also trying not to eat something super fried. Except I then got a side of the brew french fries, which are like deep-fried because they're a house specialty.

The wrap wasn't bad - pretty average. Some of the distribution of items was a little off, so I'd get a full bite of tortilla or a full bite of lettuce. I also don't love the lettuce in the wrap because it gets hot and soggy. It's cut too thin to hold up and ends up getting mushy.

But the chicken was good, and the flavor was that of just a mild buffalo sauce - not too spicy.

The fries had a nice little battered crunch to them. They're thick and definitely pack more than enough calories.

I think on the next visit, I wanna try the wings!







Grade: C

Chef Ohlinger, the former chef/owner of Richwood Grill, hosted his second dinner in the 2015 Appalachian Global Dinner Series on Saturday. The goal of the Appalachian Global Dinner Series is to highlight the role of Appalachian cuisine in global culture, and to bring West Virginia recognition as a culinary destination, as per the website. Chef Ohlinger would combine dishes he's learned through his travels with an Appalachian twist during the inventive dinners at Richwood Grill and while he's searching for his next permanent location, he is completing this year's dinner series in a host of guest kitchens in the area.

Ramp Lollapalooza: Ramps 30 Ways ~ This Ain't Your Grandma's Ramp Dinner was hosted at Atomic Grill at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 2. It was $40 and by reservation only. Unlike the previous dinner, everyone was eating at the same time. And most of us were set up along a line table on the side of the restaurant. If you're ever been to a ramp feed, it's often similar - long rows of tables of people eating the pungent oniony-garlicky ramp in various forms.

Ramps are the traditional harbinger of Spring in Appalachia, and the Ramp Dinner is familiar to all. In many other temperate mountain regions around the world, wild spring onions are welcomed in the same way, according to the event Facebook page. The multi-course dinner featured traditional spring onion dishes and some very untraditional dishes from locally foraged ramps. It's funny, almost, to think that these usually very cheap dinners are used as fundraisers, but this dinner took the humble ramp and created global dishes from it - in a very cool way. I think we ended up getting to about 23 different ramp dishes, which is still a ton. I think time + not have your own kitchen + trying brand new dishes sometimes throws a wrench in plans. But, hell, I'm not complaining.



First Course: Ramp ricotta bruschetta + chilled ramp and pea soup
Delicious. It's not a crazy concept, right? A nice velvety soup with a crunchy bread. It combine cheesy, garlicky spread with a chilled soup. Really tasty. I haven't loved most pea soups I've had. This totally changed my mind.



Second Course (left upper corner clockwise): Ramp and roasted corn lemonade + ramp jalea + ramp kimchi + ramp and peach chutney + ramp sabzi khordan + ramp salsa naranja + ramp kachumbali + ramp hummus + ramp spearmint jelly + ramp cullen skink with ramp buerre blanc